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Issue

Ocean Health

From the Arctic Ocean to the South Pacific, the impacts of climate change are becoming impossible to ignore. Ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising, the very chemistry of the seas is undergoing change.

Through Ocean Health, readers can explore a range of journalism on critical issues related to the health of our oceans and ways in which scientists and local communities are adapting and fighting for the future of our oceans. From ground-breaking reports on ocean acidification to stories on how the melting Arctic ice cap is affecting our lives, these in-depth projects shed new light on under-reported crises that will have a lasting—and potentially devastating—impact on future generations.

Ocean Health also looks at how overfishing, oil exploration, and exploitation of mineral resources beneath the ocean’s surface can degrade the environment and jeopardize food sources needed to sustain the planet’s ever-expanding population. Through this journalism, the Pulitzer Center hopes to inform the debate on one of the most critical challenges of our time—the health of our oceans.

Image from Steve Sapienza and Glenn Baker's Easy Like Water project on floating schools in Bangladesh

From the women who spend hours daily fetching water to political battles over international rivers to melting icepack and rising sea levels, the water issue affects us all, and we all contribute to it.

In January 2010, Pulitzer-sponsored journalists Jennifer Redfearn, William Wheeler and Anna-Katarina Gravgaard visited more than fifteen middle and high schools and three universities in the St. Louis area. They spoke about their experiences reporting on the issues surrounding climate change in the Carteret Islands and South Asia, respectively. Their discussions with the students ranged from the environmental, social, and political implications of climate change, to the technical and educational sides of a career in journalism, to news literacy and the changing media landscape.

Glenn Baker and Stephen Sapienza are in Copenhagen to cover the COP15 talk after documenting rising sea levels in Bangladesh. Follow them as they report on the meetings and the Bangladeshi delegation's efforts to draw attention to the real and present outcomes of unchecked climate change.

The Pulitzer Center is pleased to honor Bangladeshi social entrepreneur and architect Mohammed Rezwan at a reception taking place next Monday, Nov. 9 in Washington, DC in cooperation with The Global Fund for Children (see full event details below).